MSt in Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies

The MSt in Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (renamed in 2021-22 from MSt in Women's Studies) brings together the contributions of five Humanities faculties (Classics, English, History, Medieval and Modern Languages, and Philosophy), encompasses wider interdisciplinary perspectives (e.g. in Chinese studies, theology, and gender and development), and offers exciting scope to follow distinctive independent intellectual pathways.  It has been a very important generative context within Oxford for radical critical thought, and graduates of the MSt have gone on to academic, policy and cultural positions across the world. 

The name of the course has its own history and political significance.  Whilst the change, after twenty-five years, is an acknowledgement that the politics and the resonances of naming have changed, it does not represent a substantive change of intellectual position.  On the one hand, the course has always embraced that conceptual range. On the other, it continues to be committed to the ongoing dynamic potentialities of feminist thinking in the broadest sense.

This nine-month interdisciplinary Master's degree equips students with the critical and research tools needed for women's, gender, and sexuality studies in the Humanities. It provides a systematic introduction to feminist theory, including queer theory and transgender theory. It highlights women's contribution to culture and history alongside critical analysis and theorisation of the meanings assigned to the category 'woman' in philosophical, literary, socio-cultural, and historical thought. At the same time, it addresses conceptions of masculinity and gender diversity and fluidity. It provides the practical equipment necessary to engage in original research into topics in the humanities relating to women, gender, and sexuality, in a university with unrivalled facilities for both traditional and computer-age researches. Teaching is delivered through close individual supervision, as well as a carefully designed programme of lectures and classes led by specialists from a wide variety of disciplines; hence it promotes collaborative work as well as the development of independent and original scholarship.  The course is distinctive in having an Academic Mentor – an early career researcher who meets regularly with the students to provide practical academic support, and who helps in the organisation of research seminars and other events.

Students follow an intensive core course, combining introductions to feminist theory and to methodologies/methods of research. They take, and are examined (by coursework essay) on, two Options, drawn from a list of up to thirty covering a very wide range of topics. The Options allow deepening of skills acquired in a first degree or the development of new skills under specialist teaching, which can be further practised in the third assessed element of the course, a closely supervised Dissertation on a subject of the candidate's own choice.

The participating Humanities faculties contribute option choices and supervision expertise to the degree. The programme does not normally involve departments within the Social Sciences, although option choices and dissertation supervision are drawn beyond the contributing faculties and the Humanities. Whilst students are pursuing the MSt in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, they are also encouraged to go to lectures and seminars organised by individual faculties, which might help them to frame their immediate or future projects.

There is a tremendous wealth of scholarly and community activity in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Oxford. Students will be directly involved in organizing an interdisciplinary research seminar on Feminist Thinking in Hilary (spring) and Trinity (summer) terms as well as the annual graduate conference on Feminist Thinking in Trinity term. They will benefit from exposure to a variety of forms of scholarship and access to new initiatives enabled by the research programme Women in the Humanities, supported and funded by TORCH (The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities).

Course structure

Term 1

Theory and Approaches course.

Theory: 2 lectures and one seminar each week.

Approaches: 7 weekly seminars. Attendance is obligatory.

An option from the Options List.

Term 2 A second option from the Options List.
Term 3 Dissertation

Course content

Theory and Approaches course

The course on Theory and Approaches aims to provide familiarity with a wide range of theoretical issues raised by women's, gender and sexuality studies, mastery of research skills, and ability to use both traditional research aids and the aids being developed by information technology.

It is taught in Michaelmas (autumn) term. You will have a lecture and a seminar each week on Theory, and weekly seminars on Approaches to Research. The course is not itself formally assessed, but will inevitably inform and enrich your approaches to the material that you cover in your Option courses and in your Dissertation.

 

Options courses

The Option courses offer you the opportunity to explore further areas familiar to you from your undergraduate degree experience or to branch out into a new field. You follow one Option in Michaelmas (autumn) term and one in Hilary (spring) term. For each option, you will typically meet with your Option tutor weekly or fortnightly and will produce a number of pieces of written work, one of which will then be worked up into an assessed essay of 6-7,000 words.

 

Assessment

  • Option course: two essays of 6,000-7,000 words each.
  • Dissertation: 10,000 - 12,000 words.

Find out more

Admissions Pages

Course code: TS_VY1

Length: 9 months, full-time

Course Handbook 2023-24

Related programmes

If your interests lie particularly in History and women’s studies, you can also apply to the Faculty of History’s Women’s, Gender and Queer History Master’s programme, which introduces students to the latest research in these subjects and also provides a foundation for students’ independent research.